The Kardashians' Star Has Begun to Fade. Is It on Purpose?
Some commenters scoffed at the sight of celebrities carping about the work of being famous. But these artists have hardly been lazy or reluctant to play the music business’s games. Each of them is known for elaborate music videos, spectacular stage productions, and otherworldly fashion. They’ve hustled, for all of their careers, to seem larger than... See more
Spencer Kornhaber • TikTok Killed the Video Star
Whereas in the past a person wearing a Nirvana t-shirt was probably a fan of the band’s music, today no such guarantee exists (and many more shirts are sold). This often precludes one of the original purposes of merch, a signaling of belonging to a certain (sub)culture.
Still, the meaning-making of merch has not disappeared, but merely shifted. A pe
... See moreAna Andjelic • Everything Is Merch
As with branding, celebrity isn’t about complexity, but about offering up an enticing package that the largest number of people can understand with the smallest amount of effort.
Andi Zeisler • We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement
People who make great art that moves the masses are not like you and I. They have a point of view, laser focus, a pinch of delusion, and a level of execution that is required to make something great and be able to sell it. Being guarded, playing it safe, and always being concerned with controlling the narrative just isn’t compelling anymore. Charli
... See moreThe overexposure of pop stars, to a fault, is routine. We know perhaps a bit too much about J.Lo’s pop contemporaries, too, and look: It’s not like Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake haven’t also pushed their own post-peak vanity projects to weak receptions in recent years. But J.Lo has, for much of her career, been a curiously unsympathetic figure... See more
Where Did It All Go Wrong for J.Lo?
Into this realm of uncertainty has come a new idea—that the path to stability might be a personal brand.